UPDATE:. My son received an Official diagnosis of Autism-PDD at the end of May

My son just turned 4 (33 week preemie), and we were referred to a pediatrician due to his small size and what we thought were digestive issues resulting in slow/lazy potty training (he's only 24lbs, 36 inches tall)...When I got into her office she gave my son a notebook and crayons so he could draw while she asked me some questions to start his chart. After a couple minutes she paused and asked me "Does he always just draw lines?" Not thinking much of it, I told her he didn't draw people/letters yet, and she said that what he drew was a big red flag for autism-sure enough the entire page had lines drawn horizontally across, the whole page down looked like this
________________________________________________ _________________________________________________
__________________________________________________ etc.
As the appt went on, we discovered many more red flags and he is now going for a 90 minute test next week to get a diagnosis-I will be in a room with double sided glass and he will be tested on the other side.
The other "markers" he has are:
-delayed potty training...he still has pee accidents everyday, and has never attempted to poop in the potty/toilet ever, only in his underwear or pullup and can't seem to sense when he has to go, can't hold it at all (pee or poop)
-very emotional, extremely clingy to me and pulls on my leg begging me to hold him during tantrums which happen daily
-very short tempered, determined...if he wants something, he has to have it that second, easily annoyed by siblings (we have 6 children, he's a middle child)
-obsessed with one thing for a long period of time...if he watches a movie he likes he needs to watch it numerous times daily for weeks on end until he basically memorizes it...also became very obsessed with music at age 2, listening to Justin Bieber for hours and still does, will fall asleep singing along with him-this is the only person he will listen to
-really good memory, if we've been somewhere once and go by there again, he can tell you exactly what it is, what we did there...if you name a town he can tell you things that are there, what we did, who we saw etc, very detailed explanations
-straight lines, not just with drawing but with dinky cars, shoes, foam play mat, blocks, books...must be in a line and if anyone messes up the line he will lose it!
-must drink from the same cup every time he has a drink or he won't drink it, also very particular of type of drink/food he will take in, very limited diet
-could do up to 48 piece puzzles at 19 months old
-rocks to go to sleep, will not fall asleep unless myself or dad is in the room, and never in his bedroom (usually on the couch beside us), if we move him to his bed, he will wake during the night and climb into bed with me
-constant babbling/humming...everytime we go out, if he's walking anywhere, he's making sounds of some sort
-re-naming places, uses colours or symbols to describe stores in our town eg. banana store for supermarket that has bananas on its sign, trampoline store for hardware store where we bought a trampoline etc.

He DOES NOT have the following:
-not withdrawn, he will talk to relatives if we have company, but not affectionate towards them, talks to them like an adult though, not a small child
-no speech delay, very chatty
-not destructive during tantrums
-not sensitive to noise

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Proud Stay-at-home-mama to 6 (including 4 preemies 29-35 weeks); who enjoys reading, homeschooling/unschooling and trying to make everyday as stress-free as possible for my 2 precious sons with Autism

Sending hugs. We recently went thru a 10 hour neuropsych eval with my middle child with suspected asperger's after years of me talking with docs about problems I have noticed. Finally, one paid attention! We found out she is cognitively impared (mentally retarded with IQ of 45) intead. I'm still reeling from it all and going thru the cycle of emotions. I have no support group, making it difficult.

Make sure you surround yourself with positive support!! And never stop searching. I think there are many reasons for it.... Toxibs from vaxes, diet issues, gut issues, right brain dominance: differences in learning and how they see the world, (think einstein!) etc .

My step daughter found the GAPS diet helped her son function better with asperger's. There is a lot of therapy techniques out there too. There aee videos on youtube of a severely affected teen who found she could communicate via typing. She has a lot to say about life in her body/mind. When i get on my laptop tomorrow i will post the link. The phonw is too difficult.

My son has HF Autism, not Aspergers, with no speech delay. He talks up a storm, but it is the he is talking and what about. He doesn't really hold a conversation, more speaks to you or kinda just talking to himself. He saw a developmental pediatrician who dx him with ASD and ADHD. He is now in ABA therapy at a place called The Scott Center for Autism Treatment. They work with children on their social skills in a classroom type setting, but each child has their own therapist. They teach him to make eye contact, speak to other children/adults, etc. If your ds does have ASD, it is not the end of the world. They can do things to help them function better.

I have the most trouble with the way society looks at children like my son. We are very used to dirty looks and nasty comments, very sad.

Also, ABA is great, but you have to be careful. Our first therapist was AWFUL and doing more harm than good. When we moved, I was shocked at the difference.

I was fairly shocked when they dx my son and even people we know question it. We have had about 4 different evals, 2 saying he is on the spectrum. Don't be afraid to get a second opinion.

HUGS

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Military Wife to Brian and Mama to Nicholas(6/07) and Madelyn(7/09)

Yep, your DS does sound like a spectrum baby. Don't be surprised if they gear away from the term's "Asperger's" or "high-functioning". The DSM-5 is eliminating the terms and I also heard somewhere that ADHD is now being categorized as a spectrum disorder? Don't quote me on that one ...

All kids on the spectrum are different. For instance, mine is "more mildly affected" with his greatest struggle being his language disorder (no actual speech issues). He talks, but he doesn't converse. Like your DS, he's by no means withdrawn. He's actually very extroverted and it frustrates him that there are so many "lost in translation" moments with other kids. He's non-aggressive (but he will defend himself or his little sisters and gets very upset when reprimanded for "striking back") and has great sensory coping skills. He can't draw and struggles to create anything spontaneously but as you and others mentioned, he has great visual-spatial skills (great at puzzles or copying lego instructions) and has a pitch-perfect audiographic memory. Very musically intuitive. He does love novelty, though, and can be pursuaded to try new things, eat new foods, wear different clothes, etc.

So what I'm encouraging is to embrace your DS' strengths and once he's assessed, work with his team to tackle the "stressors." For instance, we really only want to help ours conquer his impulse control and focus (so he can converse). We don't care if he's eccentric or is never able to tie his shoelaces. We just want him to be at peace.

I have a 5yo Aspie who couldn't hold his urine until we tried GFCF when he was 4.5yo. Within the week he went from wetting multiple times a day to maybe once a week, and a year later he is completely day trained and dry through the night several nights a week. If he has any exposure to gluten or dairy, he loses bladder control within the hour.